Memorex DVD+R/RW Recorder with i.Link for $300

[Gil T Pleasure]

I went to my local Target store the other day and noticed that they have a Memorex DVD+R/RW recorder (model #: MVDR2100) on display.

I checked Target's website, but didn't find the recorder. Google search also turned up nothing. But Falco was kind enough to provide me with a link to the manual.

Does anyone have this unit?

[nvjames]

Well, I bought a unit at the beginning of the month and at this time it's winging it's way back to Florida (the repair, "what the hell are we doing selling this stuff?" center).

I've been told that there has been a rogue batch been sent out and units are being replaced in Target stores.

Make no bones about it, the unit I bought was TOTALLY unusable. It couldn't even keep the time/date that you entered straight once you turned the machine into standby mode.

I now list for you the faults that I found within a week or so of trying to use the unusable. Once again, I should stress that i was told that this was a rogue batch but make of it what you will.....


a) This one baffles me, how can this be missed by anyone using the unit if only for a few hours? I would have thought you’d have been swamped with returns on this issue alone unless my unit and Ralph’s are from a bad batch.
Turn the unit on and setup the time and the date. Now switch to standby using the remote. The time is displayed correctly. Next, power up the device again using the power/standby button on the remote. Take a quick look at the time/date settings they will have reverted to midnight 1/1/01.
Ralph confirmed his unit had the same problem, but phoned me back later to say that you could turn the unit off from the front panel without losing the data. I tried it immediately after our conversation, but I still got the same failure. However, and while I haven’t thoroughly followed this up, if you do something like play a disk between the standby to power on mode then the time and date are not lost. This needs a bit more investigation.
b) Try setting the time and date correctly, then setting a future record time using the “timer record” menu. Then drop to standby mode and see what happens. A lot of different things can happen here depending on the setup that you have. The most common scenario is that the machine does indeed drop to standby mode and when the entered time occurs you hear the disc spin up to speed. The machine time/status front panel then flashes “hello” a few times then displays “blan” (I have used blank CD+RW discs in these tests). The display stays that way throughout the record length (why no “Rec”?). If you turn on the TV during this timer record session you just see the standby screen saver where the DVD logo bounces around the screen. It does not seem to matter if you have screen saver mode selected on the setup screen. Once the timed record has finished the machine remains with the “blan” message still displayed. The unit has NOT powered down and if the TV is still on it will still be showing the screen saver. What next? How to finish the recording? Pressing the “Stop” remote key, the most obvious choice? Leaves you with a blank disk. You are then left with yet another entry in the “timer record” that cannot be removed. The manual DOES say that you can use the up and down navigation keys in conjunction with the ADD/CLEAR button (remote or front panel?) to clear an entry. I cannot find those buttons (Ralph just showed me where CLEAR is. There is no ADD!).
c) When entering data into the “timer record” menu you are given the option to choose the start time followed by an AM/PM selection. The end time does not have an AM/PM selection. Try setting a start time of just before midnight i.e. 12:58PM and an end time of 1:05 (you mean AM but there is no option. The recording is not made because (and this is just guesswork) the machine thinks there is not enough time remaining on the inserted disk).
d) Disk compatibility. I know this is a thorny issue with DVDR’s, but yours has does some strange things with my other DVD players. Mostly pixilation occurs every ten seconds or so. One unit is a Sony, the other a Samsung. The results are the same on both machines which tends to suggest that the error lies on in the writing of the disk rather than the reading.
e) Maybe I’ve missed it in the manual, but what, after doing a manual record (pressing the record button on the remote) then pressing STOP on the remote is the difference between PSTOP and STOP which is all the unit will do? The only remedy is to go into standby (and lose the time, yawn) and power back up again.
f) This is relatively trivial, but the on screen options have obviously been translated from another language. There are both spelling and grammatical mistakes. Take for example the Timer Record screen, after a recording setup has been made there is a heading that says “Record Is Waiting For Executing”.
g) Is there a quick way out of General Setup, pressing the Setup key again just clears the screen and brings the original back again. I think it timed out on me after about 60 seconds, but I haven’t retried that!
h) Hmm, this ties in with section b) above...... If you leave the unit switched on then setup a timer record entry but DON’T drop to standby mode (the unit is powered up all the time) you are prompted by a screen five minuets to make certain you wish to continue with the timed recording. Before I got to the remote (I was taken somewhat unawares) the confirm/cancel screen timed out. At the correct time the recording started, but over the top of the program that I was watching (as well as recording) I got the Display Bar (Title, R/SV, EP, Record, 01, 01, Time Remaining). This blocks a third of the picture which again means that the material cannot be viewed while recording is taking place. Got two prompts which I wasn’t too sure about “Proc” followed by “Stop”, but at least the recording had been made.
i) This one is interesting. I might have missed something in the manual but I don’t understand this .... I was playing back the above mentioned recorded program and decided I no longer wanted to view it anymore, so I hit “Stop” on the remote. The display showed a “Pstop” icon (I have no idea what that means). Hitting stop for a second time reverted me back to the “Stop” icon. I could toggle between these two icons all day long (as a side note here, I don’t think this happens with shop-bought DVD’. To get to the main screen showing the title I had to hit “Disc Op” twice.
j) There is a screen that is labeled something like “Disc Information” it’s not in the manual, it gives you a horizontal bar giving you all the disc info (duh) (time remaining etc), but there seems to be no other way to remove the bar without hitting the “Disc Op” remote key twice as described above.

It looks a good machine if only it would work (where have I heard that before?)

[lordsmurf]

Looked like garbage to me. As good as a Cyberhome (read: not a compliment). Video quality not even tested. Machine was great big piece of crap, not functional.

[tag]

Looked like garbage to me......Machine was great big piece of crap, not functional.

C'mon! Quit hedging, lordsmurf, and tell us what you really think!

[cfontenot]

I bought the Memorex MVDR2100 3 days ago at Target after taking back my horrible Sanyo DVD recorder. I am very pleased with it, except for one thing. It apparently is not compatible with Maxell 4x DVD+R's. I tried recording on 2 of them and the DVD Recorder locked up on me so I had to unplug it and plug it in. The first time it let me record 2 hours before locking up, the second time 15 seconds. Then when it loads the disc back it says it is blank. (I've e-mailed Memorex customer support today, haven't heard back yet) Also, I can't get it to work with my MP3 CD's, it seems to think they are VCD's and a black screen comes up. Audio CD's do OK. It won't play my JPG CD-ROM's either. I have not tried another brand of DVD+R, but it works great with TDK 2.4x DVD+RW's, the recording quality is much, much better than the Sanyo's, and it actually let me record 3 hours using SP mode. Editing is fairly easy. I added chapter markers and it gives you the option of hiding chapters (so you can basically "cut out" a section of a recording). I don't like the remote. The number buttons aren't in standard layout and the record button isn't in a logical place, so I ended up just learning all the functions with a "learning remote". Also there is no ZOOM function. I got the chance to try out the i.Link with my Sony camcorder, and the picture was very good with that too, but the improvement over S-Video was hardly noticeable so I took the $27 firewire cable back. I haven't had a chance to try the channel tuner out. The recorder does a good job with Progressive Scan on my HDTV. Anyway, I can't think of anything else to tell you about it but if I can get it to work with another brand of DVD+R's I'm keeping it. It's funny how I searched for it on the internet too after I bought it, and it's not even on target OR memorex's website.

[nvjames]

I'm starting to think that Target/Memorex are a little embarrassed by this machine. Because of all of the problems I highlighted above I was told I might have a one off bad machine.

The service center in Florida (who were very helpful) asked me to send the recorder back to them for study and that they would replace it. That was about a month ago. I phoned up yesterday and they said that a working version was being sent out in the next three to four days. Strange how coincidences like that work.

If more people find this site it might be a good idea to comment on what discs work in the machine and which do not. This is one problem I had with my previous Phillips machine (that incidentally stopped playing prerecorded DVD’s half way through which suggests that the heads were out of alignment and couldn’t pick up the second layer on the disc. On the same topic, I’ve always found that +RW were more reliable that +R’s. No explanation for that one.

I hope more people come here to this site and comment on this machine, I too find it strange that so few people are either praising it or slamming it on websites. Target after all are still selling them at least in a few stores in my area of the US.

[hech54]

The Cyberhome IS totally worthless. My dad has one. Used it while I was there on vacation. It never could complete a one hour mode DVD.....well it does record it....it just won't finalize it.
And I couldn't get it to accept an RW disc.

Total Crap

[Sam Ontario]

After I burnt 7 DVD+R (mostly Fujifilm 4x DVD+Rs) coasters on my Philips DVDR75, I no longer burn DVD+R on any DVD recorders. I only trust that DVD+RW recorders can only burn DVD+RW discs, though previously I burn DVD+R fine with my Daytek DVR-P30. I bought some 60 DVD+RW blanks for recording my Hi8 tapes and S-VHS tapes. No more DVD+R discs for my DVD recorders.

EDIT: Aftewr I upgraded Philips firmware from ff13k to ff16f, I did not tried the DVD+R discs. Last week some one at DVDPlusRW.Org encouraged me to have another go, I successfully recorded 5 Fujifilm 4x DVD+R discs during last weekend.

[cfontenot]

OK, I ended up returning the unit. Memorex e-mailed me back stating "It sounds like there is definitely something wrong with your player. You should return it to the store and exchange it. We are sure you will not experience this problem with your new player." Screw that, I am tired of dealing with this machine, so I bought a Magnavox model, with which I was not at all impressed with the recording quality. I ended up buying a Sharp DVD Recorder that uses -R and -RW. No I-Link but I am much more satisfied: it actually works and the recording quality is great.

[lordsmurf]

OK, I ended up returning the unit. Memorex e-mailed me back stating "It sounds like there is definitely something wrong with your player. You should return it to the store and exchange it. We are sure you will not experience this problem with your new player." Screw that, I am tired of dealing with this machine, so I bought a Magnavox model, with which I was not at all impressed with the recording quality. I ended up buying a Sharp DVD Recorder that uses -R and -RW. No I-Link but I am much more satisfied: it actually works and the recording quality is great.

Go look at the SANYO model if you're on a budget. For $245, I was happy with it. Not as much as the $300-400 units I have now, but for $245, not bad at all. I wrote a review on it:
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=225929

[KDH]

Any info on the Akai DVDRW120 Progressive-Scan DVD Player/Recorder
$199.99 at Amazon (currently third best seller on Amazon)

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0002A9LRQ/qid=1088181995/br=1-3/ref=br_...nics&n=1036920

[Sam Ontario]

Any info on the Akai DVDRW120 Progressive-Scan DVD Player/Recorder
$199.99 at Amazon (currently third best seller on Amazon)

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0002A9LRQ/qid=1088181995/br=1-3/ref=br_...nics&n=1036920

Identical to Daytek DVR-P30 (Fan cooled version of LiteOn LVW5001).

[cfontenot]

OK, I ended up returning the unit. Memorex e-mailed me back stating "It sounds like there is definitely something wrong with your player. You should return it to the store and exchange it. We are sure you will not experience this problem with your new player." Screw that, I am tired of dealing with this machine, so I bought a Magnavox model, with which I was not at all impressed with the recording quality. I ended up buying a Sharp DVD Recorder that uses -R and -RW. No I-Link but I am much more satisfied: it actually works and the recording quality is great.

Go look at the SANYO model if you're on a budget. For $245, I was happy with it. Not as much as the $300-400 units I have now, but for $245, not bad at all. I wrote a review on it:
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=225929

Is Sanyo paying you to say that? Because that was the first DVD Recorder I bought and I thought it sucked. It takes 10 seconds or more to start recording after pushing the button! Not to mention the sloppy GUI, which you can't even access in monitor mode. That one is definitely NOT worth the money.

[masterblaster-rob]

Well, I bought a unit at the beginning of the month and at this time it's winging it's way back to Florida (the repair, "what the hell are we doing selling this stuff?" center).

I've been told that there has been a rogue batch been sent out and units are being replaced in Target stores.

Make no bones about it, the unit I bought was TOTALLY unusable. It couldn't even keep the time/date that you entered straight once you turned the machine into standby mode.

I now list for you the faults that I found within a week or so of trying to use the unusable. Once again, I should stress that i was told that this was a rogue batch but make of it what you will.....


The machine time/status front panel then flashes “hello” a few times then displays “blan” (I have used blank CD+RW discs in these tests). The display stays that way throughout the record length (why no “Rec”?). If you turn on the TV during this timer record session you just see the standby screen saver where the DVD logo bounces around the screen. It does not seem to matter if you have screen saver mode selected on the setup screen. Once the timed record has finished the machine remains with the “blan” message still displayed. The unit has NOT powered down and if the TV is still on it will still be showing the screen saver. What next? How to finish the recording? Pressing the “Stop” remote key, the most obvious choice? Leaves you with a blank disk. You are then left with yet another entry in the “timer record” that cannot be removed. The manual DOES say that you can use the up and down navigation keys in conjunction with the ADD/CLEAR button (remote or front panel?) to clear an entry. I cannot find those buttons (Ralph just showed me where CLEAR is. There is no ADD!).

d) Disk compatibility. I know this is a thorny issue with DVDR’s, but yours has does some strange things with my other DVD players. Mostly pixilation occurs every ten seconds or so. One unit is a Sony, the other a Samsung. The results are the same on both machines which tends to suggest that the error lies on in the writing of the disk rather than the reading.


It looks a good machine if only it would work (where have I heard that before?)

I have the same problem with mine, apparently they still are making bad ones. I am going to see if I can take it back to the store.